Bitcoin Was Recovering. Then Wall Street's AI Problem Hit. | Carlos Domingo

Bitcoin was quoted at $81,588, up 1.29% for the week and less than 10% below its recent all-time high, after holding around $81,000 through turmoil in global markets. The host cited a historic downturn in China, a collapse in Japan, and French yields rising 5% in a day. Headlines tied Bitcoin weakness to renewed doubts about the AI trade, though the discussion treated that connection as a market narrative rather than a proven cause; Tesla and Meta had not eased the concerns. Carlos Domingo said Bitcoin is distinct from tokenized financial services but remains blockchain’s foundation and, in his view, a good, safer reserve asset for savings.

Domingo expects AI models to expose more vulnerabilities in overlooked internet code. The host cited a report that OpenAI had been used to identify a potential exploit in an issue that had existed for 10 years without being hacked. Domingo’s view was that faster discovery could make the internet safer if vulnerabilities are also patched. He also expects AI agents and crypto to converge substantially in the coming months: agents may need programmable dollars and financial products, and could hold dollars and securities on an open ledger under user-set risk and liquidity limits. He allowed that agents might save in Bitcoin while using stablecoins for other transactions.

Domingo distinguished three tokenized-equity structures: shares issued directly on-chain, tokens backed by custodial shares and carrying a security entitlement, and synthetic derivatives that provide price exposure. Securitize tokenized its own equity as an on-chain share when it was public on the New York Stock Exchange; it appeared on the cap table and was managed by a registered transfer agent. In the custodial model, a share held at DTC or by a broker-dealer backs a token with rights and a claim to the share under UCC Article 8. By contrast, Domingo said synthetic products are securities that must be registered to be offered to US retail investors, so they are offered offshore. They provide exposure without ownership rights, with counterparty risk, fewer disclosures, and less regulation.

An innovation exemption has clarified that on-chain shares and custodial tokens can be lawful in the US and allows trading venues to operate without a full exchange license or Reg NMS compliance, but the host stressed that it is not yet a rule. Microsoft and Alphabet opted out of tokenized stocks. Securitize said it would not opt out after receiving an opt-out notice from OKX ICE, a joint-venture exchange between OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange’s parent. The offering began with 12 stocks and was expected to expand. Domingo expected OKX’s venue to launch in November after a 30-day notice period, while noting he was not speaking for OKX; he anticipated about a dozen tokenized-stock venues by early next year and said Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken may also offer them.

Domingo said issuers are embracing tokenization, seeking information before deciding, or opting out without discussion, a typical range of responses to new technology. He expects some opt-outs to reconsider if tokenized shares attract substantial liquidity, including outside regular market hours. Potential benefits include broader investor access, additional liquidity pools, 24/7 trading for offshore investors, and more direct issuer engagement with holders. He expects multiple blockchains to persist: Solana’s lower fees and faster trading may suit stocks, while Ethereum offers more decentralization and security but slower transactions. Securitize cited Solana’s distributed real-world-asset value rising from $1.08 billion to $4.37 billion in a year, making it third-largest by that measure.

Domingo said DTCC’s tokenization work targets efficiency and post-trade processes for broker-dealers and banks, while permissionless networks allow anyone to build applications; he wants tokenized stocks on networks such as Solana, Ethereum, or Avalanche. He also pointed to JPMorgan bringing JPM Coin to Ethereum as a sign that activity may move beyond private blockchains. Stablecoins, he said, have lost momentum but remain promising, with about $320 billion in total value; growth to $1 trillion could mark a point at which they begin replacing cash. Securitize is focusing on yield-bearing assets for otherwise idle stablecoin balances as well as tokenized equities, with products differentiated by yield, duration, and risk. Domingo called the next two years critical: $1–2 trillion on-chain in that period could make tokenization difficult to reverse, although tokenized and traditional markets may coexist for a long time. He favors allowing firms to experiment under exemptions and developing rules afterward, arguing that constrained exemptions can move faster than six-to-twelve-month consultations.